Western Wall, Hebrew Ha-Kotel Ha-Maʿaravi, also called Wailing Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem, a place of prayer and pilgrimage sacred to the Jewish people. It is the only remains of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, held to be uniquely holy by the ancient Jews and destroyed by the Romans in 70 ce. The authenticity of the Western Wall has been confirmed by tradition, history, and archaeological research; the wall dates from about the 2nd century bce, though its upper sections were added at a later date.

The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem.

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Because the wall now forms part of a larger wall that surrounds the Muslim Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqṣā Mosque, Jews and Arabs have frequently disputed control of the wall and, often, right of access to it. That conflict has been particularly heated since the Israeli government took full control of the Old City in the wake of the Six Day War of June 1967.

As it is seen today, the Western Wall measures about 160 feet (50 metres) long and about 60 feet (20 metres) high; the wall, however, extends much deeper into the earth. Jewish devotions there date from the early Byzantine period and reaffirm the rabbinic belief that “the divine Presence never departs from the Western Wall.” Jews lament the destruction of the Temple and pray for its restoration. Such terms as Wailing Wall were coined by European travelers who witnessed the mournful vigils of pious Jews before the relic of the sacred Temple. Visitors to the wall have long followed the practice of wedging small slips of paper, upon which prayers and petitions are written, into the cracks between the stones.

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This last development, while accentuating Arab fears, gave the Zionists a new sense of confidence. In the same month, a dispute in Jerusalem concerning religious practices at the Western Wall—sacred to Jews as the only remnant of the Second Temple of Jerusalem and to Muslims as the site of the Dome of the Rock—flared up into serious communal clashes in Jerusalem, Ẓefat, and...

...with brief truces. The Israelis drove back the Egyptian and Iraqi forces that menaced the south and central parts of the coastal plain. However, the old walled city of Jerusalem, containing the Western Wall, the last remnant of the ancient Temple destroyed by the Romans and held holy by Jews, was occupied by the Jordanians, and Jerusalem’s lifeline to the coast was jeopardized. The...

On three sides of the Temple Mount, parts of the original supporting walls still stand. During the centuries when Jews were excluded from the Temple Mount, its Western Wall became Jewry’s holiest shrine. Since 1967 the wall has been further exposed, and a large plaza has been cleared in front of it. The main buildings on the platform are two Islamic structures: the magnificent, gold-capped Dome...

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The Western Wall is a holy place of prayer and pilgrimage sacred to the Jewish people. The wall was part of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, the center of worship in ancient Israel. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. The Western Wall is all that remains.

The Western Wall is a place of prayer and pilgrimage in the Old City of Jerusalem that is sacred to the Jewish people. It is all that remains of the Second Temple of Jerusalem, which was held to be uniquely holy by the ancient Jews. The Romans destroyed the Temple in AD 70. The authenticity of the Western Wall has been confirmed by tradition, history, and archaeological research. The wall dates from about the 2nd century BC, though its upper sections were added at a later date.